Central Connecticut Briefs

SOUTHINGTON The proposed $119 million budget for 2009-10, which requires only a minimal tax increase, received unanimous approval from the town council Monday night.

The schools will get an increase of nearly $1 million. Although administrators had warned that without a $2.5 million increase they'd have to make deep program cuts, on Monday night Superintendent Joseph Erardi said the schools had saved more than $750,000 by freezing accounts in the current budget. The council agreed to let the schools apply that savings toward next year's budget; coupled with the $1 million increase, that gives educators an additional $1.75 million to spend.

The new budget increases overall spending for schools and town government by less than 1 percent, and will require a 0.25-mill tax increase, which will add $50 a year to the tax bill on a home assessed at $200,000.

Parking Scofflaws Urged To Pay Up -- Quickly

NEW BRITAIN The police department is urging people with unpaid parking tickets to pay them before they're tracked down by new equipment that reads license plates and determines whether the vehicle has unpaid fines attached.

The city has purchased a license plate reader, and so far police have recovered $1,000 in unpaid parking tickets.

According to police, lists of unpaid parking tickets are downloaded into the unit, which then scans license plates. When a match is made, the unit alerts the officer. If the vehicle has five or more unpaid parking tickets, it is then booted so that it cannot be driven or towed. The outstanding fines must be paid before the owner may drive the vehicle.

Reading Workshop Planned

NEW BRITAIN The school system is offering a workshop todayfor parents of elementary school students who want to learn ways they can help their children with reading this summer. The free event is at the New Britain Museum of American Art, and parents may also tour the museum.

The workshop is open only to parents. The workshop runs from 9:30 a.m. to noon, and parents who want to participate may catch a bus to and from the museum at their child's school.